Worst Ferrari Driver Ever...

A big part of Ferrari's & Michael Schumacher's success was due to Badoer pounding away the miles in testing/feedback.

 

Now?
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Badoer by far

 

Didier Pironi! - For creating the atmosphere/situation that resulted in Gilles Villeneuve's death!

(I'll also add Ayrton Senna! - Deliberately drove Prost's Ferrari completely off the track in Suzuka costing Ferrari/Prost a WDC! )

 

I agree - they made some real bad cars from 66-70...

but Amon has to be said just could not develop a car... and had terrible timing. had he stayed in 70 he could maybe have won a race! who knows.. he's alive and thats all that counts.

 

I think he was lazy like Kimi ... I believe he has said since that he spent too much time partying.
Pete

 

Well, Tom, I have to disagree here: Mauro Forghieri said more than once that Chris Amon was probably the best developer with whom he worked: he called him "the little Brabham"...and all agree that he had put an end to his partying habits when he was at Ferrari.

He is one of a few pilots who left the Scuderia still in very good terms with Enzo Ferrari. He had a deal done with the Scuderia to come back in mid-1973, but this was vetoed by Marlboro, and Amon himself was not keen to run away from the deal he had at the time.

Its part of the Formula 1 folklore, but many among us know the anecdote of the postcard he received in 1983 for his 40th birthady deep down in rural New Zealand, with a stamp from Modena and his adress written in violet ink...

As for his timing when he left the Scuderia, he had many times explained that it was due due the difficult first test of the new Flat12, and that he had misgivings even at the time, and made a bet with the Grand Old man the day he left for who, him or Ferrari, would be the first one to win a Grand Prix.

Rgds

 

Mauro Forghieri's interview, end 1985, as realised for "l'année 1985-86 Ferrari", published by "Auto-Hebdo":

"Among the drivers who left the strongest impression on me, my favorite was, and will always remain, Chris Amon. Behind his steering wheel at nine o'clock in the morning, he never left before five in the afternoon; he never put a foot on the ground in between; he had an impressive working capability. I say this for the simple reason that a racing driver perfects his car during private testing: the more he drives the car, the more he strives to give precise information to his designer, the better the car will be during the races. It is during private testing that a driver develops his car, and this was really Chris's greatest strength; just like Niki a few years later, Chris was able to drive five laps and to come back to me with the absolute essential I needed to know; strictly what was expected from him, not a word lost about anything else, never anything superficial or accessory. He remains my favorite driver".

 

Of the modern era BADoer. Although Capelli and Larini didn't put the time charts on fire either.

But there are lots of Ferrari F1 driver names nobody on here ever heard of: In the fifties they used a standing army of drivers, many only doing a few or one race. It was the era of the gentlemen racers and basically any money bag could race a F1 Ferrari.

Imagine the guys who are Clienti Corse customers today would be racing for the team for real. That's the level of many people they had in the fifties.

 

There were also private teams renting/buying Ferraris.
They kept Ferrari afloat in the 50s.

 

True dat.

 

NICE!

 

Thanks. Never read that interview comment before.
Pete

 

Until he wins two championships with Ferrari, it's Alonso.

Kimi outscores him in 2014. Bank it.

 

Idiotic comment.

 

Well, Badoer was a test driver. Not a racing driver. 2 totally different scenarios that requires different preparations.

Like it or not, Badoer was part of that dream team in the 2000s.

P/S: i think he also drrove slow and unreliable Minardis in the 90s. I remember his clutch or gears failed when he was in 6th almost finishing the race. He was in tears.

 

Willy Mairesse?

 

I can't see him being the worst Ferrari driver.

Mairesse was erratic but fast. He won in sports cars too.

To me the worst Ferrari driver in recent years was Yvan Capelli who didn't even finish the season. He had been OK at March/Leyton, but complete rubbish at the Scuderia.

 

Yup. I mentioned Capelli a few posts back. Along with Larini.

 

I just did a little search and the answer to the OP is clearly: Luca Badoer

I found a top ten list of the worst F1 drivers of all times. Most names I never heard of. There is only one Ferrari driver, yup, BADoer. The reason they give is quite compelling:

Badoer competed in more F1 races than any other driver in history without scoring a point.

Also there is the f1rejects.com website. Has a bunch of names but from looking it over I can only spot Badoer as a former Ferrari driver.

 

True, but the F92A was a rubbish car. As I recall, the underbody didn't work and the engine was gutless that year.

For Willy in sports cars, I see only one solo win, the (for sports cars) "Spa Grand Prix" of 1965. He also co-drove the 1966 Targa Florio winning Porsche 906 along with Herbie Mueller. I give most of the credit to Mueller there- Mueller was a good wet-weather driver, and much of the field crashed out due to nonseasonal, heavy thundershowers.

For Willy in F1- zero wins, zero poles and zero fastest laps...one 3rd place in the (sparsely-entered) 1960 Italian Grand Prix, one lap adrift of Phil Hill's winning car.

Just saying

 

Larini? Didn't he podium the car at Imola in 94 subbing for Alesi? No way I'd include him on this list considering that. Badoer I feel bad for, he finally gets his chance and it's under highly compromised circumstances . Fisi couldn't do any better in those same situation and he was way more highly rated. It has to be Capelli. He had a turd of a car but he didn't do it any favors either.

 

I forgot about that 2nd place at Imola for Larini, so I take that back.

However BADoer did a lot worse than Fisico:
He started both races from 20th and ended up 17th and 14th.

Fisico's best start was from 14th and his best finish was 9th.

Pointswise both end up with zero but Fisico was much closer to the field than BADoer who actually scared the other drivers (there was a discussion amongst the drivers at Spa who were concerned about him being so out of it).

 

True, but I would expect Fisi to be faster than Badoer. Badoer hadn't raced in almost 10 years. Take anyone out of the race seat for ten years then put them back in without testing that car and see how fast they are in relation to the rest of the field. Anyone would have trouble in that situation. I don't think that makes him a wanker. Capelli fared worse I think.

 

He was the test driver ... Therefore your without testing comment is er, wrong.
Pete